If this is what Black Friday is like...

So, I have had a pretty crazy weekend.
On Friday night, a bunch of the faculty went to this place called the Galleon to celebrate some birthdays that had happened over break.  This place is a pirate ship bar/restaurant.  Literally.  It is an actual boat on top of a hotel.  I got to hang out on the deck and look out over Shenzhen.  It was pretty great.  I should have taken pictures, but I didn't. However, I do not think this will be my last time at this particular establishment, as the faculty likes to go there alot. 

While there, we got to demonstrate to the Chinese people what awkward white Americans dancing looks like.  I feel like they appreciated our lack of rhythm, and some even joined in with us.  The end of the night was topped off with everyone in the bar dancing enthusiastically to Gangyam style.  That made me feel like I had arrived in Asia. 

That was Friday night.  On Saturday, two of my faculty friends and I planned to spend the day in Hong Kong...

So, going to Hong Kong from China means you have to cross the border.  Hong Kong is not necessarily a part of China.  I am not quite sure of the particulars of that, but going to Hong Kong is like going to another country.  In order to get a full day of exploration in, we planned on leaving early.  We were going to hop on the metro, take a 45 minute train ride, and then hop on a ferry for an hour.  The ferry is the least complicated way to go to Hong Kong as it is not as crowded as other forms of public transportation.

I am going to pause the story temporarily in order to tell you some necessary information.  I have motion sickness.  It is not severe, but long car trips, boat rides, and turbulence on flights do not do great things to my stomach.  It has been kind of a struggle having motion sickness when it comes to public transportation.  Sometimes in order to get places, we will have to ride for a good 45 minutes.  I am usually fine if I have a seat or face forward.  However, that becomes difficult sometimes when the metro train is extremely crowded; which it can get.  The constant stop and go can really get to me.  I have started traveling with some saltine crackers and a can of sprite to help combat the sickness.  My friends have been really helpful here.  One of them got me some Chinese medicine to help me with traveling.  Its a strong smelling liquid that you put on the back of your neck.  It feels like icy hot, and I use it whenever I board the metro. 

Alright time in.  So, when I woke up yesterday, I was not feeling that great.  I also had slept in longer then I wanted to, so I was in quite a hurry.  Therefore, I did not have time to eat breakfast (mistake #1).   I took some ibprofen and my daily medications (without food?  mistake #2), got dressed, and walked to the metro with my roommate, the P.E teacher, so we could meet our other friends.  We then got on a very crowded metro.  I managed to squish myself into a spot where I could face forward and talk to my friend who is the teacher's aid/ teacher in another room.  Though I felt pretty miserable, things were going relatively okay.  However, all of a sudden, I got very cold.  I couldn't really see alot and had tunnel vision, and I was very light headed.  I felt like I was either going to pass out or throw up.  Unfortunately, there was no room to do both.  I was not really responsive, so my friend asked if I was okay.  I mumbled incoherently, that I needed to get off the metro asap, and proceeded to try and sit down on the moving train floor filled with people. 

The next thing I remember was my friend telling me to leave the metro.  I got up to walk through the people to the door, but unfortunately did not make it in time, leaving me trapped and pressed up against the door.  Also, not an ideal situation.  I think I looked like I was about to puke, because a nice Chinese lady gave my friend a barf bag.  After riding for what seemed to be three hours, we finally got off at the next stop, which happened to be a stop that we needed to get off at in order to change metro lines.  My friends help me sit down, and immediately started to try and eat saltines and sprite.  (I also had sour patch kids, a generous gift from the P.E teacher, as they do not exist in China and are a huge help with motion sickness.).  I was shaking alot (yes sister, my arm was shaking)  and just did not really feel that great, but I did not get sick. 

We were in a time crunch.  We had to get moving, otherwise we would miss the ferry.  There was still a 20 minute metro ride in my future.  However, my friends graciously voted on eating breakfast and riding a taxi to the border instead. So, after a trip to Starbucks, we were on our way again.

Overall it took us a little over an hour to get to the border.  Since we did not take the ferry, we now had to pass through the border in a more crowded area.  More crowded was putting it very nicely, as the place where we were was crazy busy and filled with loud pushing people.  We got in a line of people, and tried our best to stay together.  Even though I am a nonviolent person, I found that I had to resort to pushing and shoving in order to stay with the group.  The Chinese are very ruthless that way.  Being in this line was alot like driving in traffic.  There were moments of complete stand still, followed by movements of a huge rush of people forward.  Though I have never been in a Black Friday, I am sure that it what it would be like.  Large groups of people just pushing and shoving.  And one line led to another, and another, and another, and another....  Finally after leaving the apartment at 8:00 AM.  We arrived in Hong Kong at 11:43. 

That was by far the most stressful part of my day.  After that, traveling around Hong Kong was a piece of cake.  We had orginally traveled into the country with four people, one of them having lived in Hong Kong during the summer.  She soon left our group though, so we were left with three Hong Kong newbies.  This made the day a unique adventure.  We had three missions 1) get the P.E. teacher a laptop from the apple store, 2) Get the teacher aid and I some Bibles 3) visit the peak.  Despite valiant attempts on the first two missions, they proved to be unsuccesful.  We did manage to get to the peak though.  The peak is on a mountain in Hong Kong that looks out over the whole city.  It has a hiking trail and an amazing view.  This was by far my favorite part of the day. Something that I have missed in Shenzhen, and in China, is nature.  I really miss open fields, water, trees, and just being surrounded by it.  The peak's trail led us by mountain ledges, trees, and it was magnificient.  I enjoy seeing the delicacy of God's creation.  It shows us just how magnificent He is.   

I am getting use to being stared at.  I notice it the most, when I am not with my American faculty.  I usually say hello, and they respond back.  People enjoy practicing their English.  It is also slightly funny to travel with the teacher's aid.  Her and I have become really good friends.  She, like me, is American.  Unlike me, she is of Asian descent, and gets confused for a native all the time.  She does not know any Chinese, but that does not stop the people of China from trying to talk to her.  She knows how to say the phrase, I am an American, but people do not believe her.  They keep refering to her as a "liar" in Chinese.  To them, the concept of someone looking like my friend, or just the diversity of Americans in general, is a foreign concept.  There really is no melting pot here, not like the U.S anyways. 

We ended up being able to take the ferry back to China, and I braved the metro to make our travel time back to China around 1 hour and 45 minutes.  We are already making plans to travel back and work on our first two missions.

Chopstick Challenged

So, yesterday was technically a Friday.  Today, there is no school and is a teacher's work day.  That being said, last night I went out with a bunch of my faculty to have some authentic Chinese.

So, I have been in China for almost a week, and have avoided using chopsticks until last night.  In the past, I have always struggled with eating food with this particular eating utensil, and last night was no exception. 

The place we went to was called "Hot Pot."  The title is pretty self-explanatory.  Once you get to the restaurant, you order food items like corn, potatoes, meat, and mushrooms.  The waiter will bring you these items and a pot of water that has been seasoned with various vegetables like garlic, and in our case, an animal bone.  These pots get placed on the table in premade holes that are attached to a burner that will boil the water. You then take the food you ordered and cook them in the boiling pots.  In addition, there are sauce mixes that you can dip your cooked food in. 

Our table ordered alot of food.  Plates and plates of it.  However, I was not full.  This was because I only ate what I could manage to hold with the evil sticks of hunger.  This meant a small amount of noodles, potatoes, and lamb.  I eventually folded, and spent the most of my dinner eating pieces of corn that I would pick up by skewering them with my chopstick and eating them like a kabob. 

This picture shows me eating tofu noodles, that's right tofu.  I tried tofu last night in the forms of tofu skin and tofu noodles.  The tofu noodles honestly tasted like noodles.  It was interesting.

 

On a classroom note, today a student said:  "Teacher have big tummy.  Miss Heien is fat." ....Yep that just happened.  Chinese students have no filter.

Well Chinese child, Miss Heien basically had no dinner, so that should help.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord....

        Tomorrow I will be leaving for China for an educational internship teaching third and fourth grade at an international school.  To say that I am nervous is a definite understatement.  For the next six months I will be separated from my friends and family and be responsible for maintaining my own classroom.  This is a huge responsiblity for someone who graduated from college under a month ago.  Thankfully, besides being nervous, I am excited. 
         I am lucky to have such a great support system here in America and one waiting for me in China.  Already, my faculty have embraced me and have been willing to answer all of my numerous and tedious questions. My plane trip tomorrow will be filled with even more questions as I am flying out with two of my new faculty members. 
       On a side note, my father just got admitted to the hospital today with pneumonia.  Prayers for a quick recovery!   It certainly was very stressful on my whole family getting me to where I needed to be, while my father was very sick.
       God has great plans for you and for me.  Sometimes in all of the stress in our lives we lose sight of that promise.  God is with us, He is here; so why be afraid?

So,  here I go...